David Rittenhouse

One of the great figures of the American Enlightenment, David Rittenhouse of Pennsylvania rose from his work as a mechanic and clockmaker of exquisite craftsmanship to informed, careful astronomy and effective experimental work in optics, magnetism, and psychology. This book shows how he applied his scientific ability to public projects and, eventually, to the establishment of a ''national mint'', and how he used his increasing prestige to further crucial political objectives of the time. This man, considered a brilliant scientist by Franklin and Jefferson, was, according to Benjamin Rush, "one of the luminaries of the eighteenth century."

Originally published in 1964.

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